YORKTON, SK — Rylan Oatman scored just 1:14 into overtime as the Melville Millionaires edged the Yorkton Terriers 4-3 in the preseason finale Saturday night at Westland Insurance Arena.
The final preseason tune-up between the Highway 10 rivals saw Melville build a two-goal lead before the Terriers battled all the way back to force overtime.
Kale Margolis opened the scoring in the first period on the power play, firing a point shot through traffic that beat a screened Callum Creig to give the Millionaires a 1-0 lead.
The Terriers would answer off a 2 on 1 rush, with Peter Godley finishing a pretty pass from Vallance tying the game 1-1.
Creig came up with the biggest stop of the opening 20 minutes later in the period, robbing Jaden Kokosha point-blank with the left toe on a 2-on-1 opportunity to keep Yorkton within one.
The Terriers were unable to capitalize on their lone power-play opportunity and were narrowly outshot 11-9 in the opening frame.
Melville added a pair of power-play goals in the second period to extend its advantage.
Cole Brown struck first, sneaking a shot through Creig to make it 2-1. Margolis then added his second of the night, finishing off a seam pass from Oatman to give the Millionaires a 3-1 lead.
The shots were even at 12-12 in the middle frame, while the Terriers came up empty on three power-play opportunities.
Facing a two goal deficit entering the third, Yorkton began to push and was rewarded as the Terriers mounted a comeback.
Jake Briltz got the Dogs on the board, ripping a shot into the top corner past Noah Kraus for his first goal of the preseason to cut the deficit to one.
The Terriers continued to press and eventually pulled within one before finding the equalizer in the late stages of the third. Brett Buckley took advantage of a fortunate bounce, banking the puck off Kraus and into the back of the net to tie the game 3-3.
The rest of regulation solved nothing, sending the Terriers to overtime for the second time this preseason.
The extra frame lasted just 1:14. Oatman found himself with an opportunity to end it and slipped the puck past Creig, who made a tremendous effort with the glove but couldn’t quite keep it from crossing the goal line, giving Melville the 4-3 overtime victory.
The Terriers wrap up the preseason with a 2-0-2 record and will now shift their focus to defending their Bunge Division crown.
The 2026-27 regular season gets underway next Friday night when the Estevan Bruins visit Westland Insurance Arena.
